Boy 2.0 by Tracey Baptiste

e-Audio, 06:46:00
Narrated by: Ariel Blake
Release Date: October 1, 2024
Published by: Hachette Audio
Read from: October 7-8, 2024
Boy 2.0, #1
Source: Library’s Libby
Content Warning: Death of a Parent, Cancer, Racial Profiling
For Readers Interested In: Family Diversity (Raised in Foster Care), Sparkly Cover, MG, Racial Ethnic Diversity, Sci Fi

     Win “Coal” Keegan has just landed in his latest foster home, with a big, noisy, slightly nosy family named the McKays. They seem eager to welcome Coal, but he’s wary of trusting them. So, he doesn’t tell them that he went for a walk with chalk in his pocket to cover a nearby street with his art. He doesn’t tell them that a neighbor found Coal drawing, pulled a gun on him, and fired it. He doesn’t tell them the police chased him. And he definitely doesn’t tell them that when everything went down, Coal somehow turned invisible.

     But he did.
     Now he has to figure out how. Is he a superhero? Some kind of mutant? A science experiment? Is that why he has no family of his own? As Coal searches for answers and slowly learns to control his invisibility, he turns to the McKay kids and friends both new and old for help. But they soon discover they’re not the only ones looking for a Black boy with superpowers, and the situation is far stranger—and more dangerous—than they ever could have expected.

 

*MY THOUGHTS*

I got an ARC of this in the mail for some reason and I’d been thinking about reading it since I had gotten it. And though it wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be, it was still so very good.

Ok so when I say it wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be about, it’s because at one point it got kinda heavy on the science part of this. On the one hand I loved it because it taught terms like GMO and taught about chameleons and how they change their skin. But on the other hand, it took me out the story a bit. They spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was going on vs the actual story.

Ok so I was expecting to see that part, but because he’s called a superhero I thought it was going to be some saving things involved. He was smart and he got answers from so many things, but he just didn’t really do anything with them. I thought even as an origin story there’s usually some way the hero like uses this to his advantage and save one person from something. But it was mostly them learning more about his condition. I think I just wanted more action. (Also, don’t be like me and ignore the synopsis lol)

The beginning of this story tho was amazing. I even got teary when it first happened. It was unexpected, but just having the thought of how many things might have changed if this had been something that was made for the masses. How different would life be if they could just disappear when faced with police brutality or someone wanting to harm them in a racist attack. Just the thought of them having the potential to have something to save them from unnecessary attacks made me a little emotional. I know this probably won’t happen for everyone and I know that wasn’t the point of that part, but for me, and the author, I’m assuming, it went deeper.

The characters in this were cool too. I really liked Coal. This did not feel like a MG book, it was a little more mature. I think I would say this was a little on the lower YA, upper MG side. And like how smart was he that he was able to give himself a creative outlet when things got to be too overwhelming. And that he was able to figure out what was going on and so many other things he was able to overcome through this book.

This wasn’t what I was expecting, but that’s on me. I still do think it was a bit heavy on the science part for a MG novel, but it was still enjoyable. I will most definitely be recommending this to my librarians so they can recommend it to their kiddos.

Overall, I give this